I will humbly accept this challenge. You see it is unfair to state that Elmo is unstable mentally, as his purpose is to entertain young children who indeed watch the series "Sesame Street". When he mentions Elmo's World, he is stating a world of pretend, or make believe. Such behaviour is healthy for all children to exhibit, and if anything Elmo is encouraging healthy childhood behaviour, not showing mental instability. To say one such as Elmo exhibits "mentally unstable behaviour" is slanderous and degrading to one such as him who should otherwise be looked upon as an example to not only Childhood Education, but to a promoter of a healthy childhood as well.

Throughout the dawn of humanity, human being have always trifled with such questions such as that of our own sanity. In order to define that which is insane we must first take a good look at the definition of sanity

san�i�ty (sn-t)
n.
1. The quality or condition of being sane; soundness of mind.
2. Soundness of judgment or reason.

It may be fair to purport that Elmo is just a child's figure merely demonstrating his own creative merits. When such creative merits, however are repetitive and often in 3rd person one must question the judgment of Elmo. I will grant that Elmo may be trying to channel an avenue by which youngsters can relate to him, but this avenue which he constantly channels undermines his character and moral dignity. The following video gives sound reason to question Elmo's sanity

It is unlikely to believe that these characteristics embody any definition of sanity.

Then if we use you're argument we might as well bring into question the sanity of all children around the world. Elmo is protrayed in the series "Sesame Street" as 3-4 years old in it's world of continuity, and being of that age, one cannot reasonably expect someone with the mental compacity of a 3-4 year old to come up with a musical masterpiece To do so would be unfair, not to mention unrealistic. Musical Talent progresses with age, you dont see any 9 year olds for example as a member of an established band, because he/she has not yet acquired the skill set required. The same could be said for Elmo, as a toddler/young child like character. Only in exceptional cases does a young child, or child period have exceptional musical talent, as he/she would be a a childhood prodigy, which is anything bet the norm or standard.

As far as referring to one self in the third person, there could be a multitude of reasons as to why someone would do such a thing. Taking into consideration the character's portrayed age into mind, it is likely equivalent to a "childhood phase" that any normal child would eventually "grow out of". At worst this could be considered eccentric behaviour if it persists later on in life, but this is by no means a clear indicator of mental instability. Taking age into account, I would say Elmo is anything but insane for his age. He is a perfectly sane 3-4 year old character.

My opponent wishes to argue that Elmo gives representation to the mentality of 3-4 year old. If this were the case Elmo would not be that adept at the Piano, nor would he be able to write his own song. As a testament to Elmo's mental instability there are various occasions were he communicates with objects and stars. The communicable skills of the sun have yet to be found by research, but con will probably argue otherwise. It is very likely that Elmo was exposed to a mind altering drug prior to this encounter with the sun. It also highly unlikely that Elmo (a solid object) can sit on a cloud (warm air absorbing with water vapor) .

Elmo will further proclaim in the video provided that he is a constellation, such a statement is not an invigoration of the imagination, but a open door which reveals Elmo's megalomania. The character Elmo continually gravitates to claims that are not based on reason or science. Elmo's delusions continually proceed him, my opponent may argue that Elmo's circumstances are but that of his imagination, this is not congruent to many of the opinions held in his various public statements.

Elmo in the following video is talking to a plant , by which he thus starts imagining to watering planets in a city. It is very likely that Elmo is under the influence of a mind-altering drug known as lsd (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide).

My opponent may state that Elmo is Anthropomorphizing objects and carrying dialogue with them, however this is not congruent with the events that occured.The objects are responding therefor proving this is not a stimulation of the mind but a condition of insanity. I have proven that Elmo is mentally unstable, Vote Pro.

In response to Pro, it is possible that Elmo may be particularly adept at playing the piano, but he is no were near the level of Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethovin, or Leberace, nor is he even remotely skilled in the art of song composition. Any small child could come up with lyrics as basic as that. With that i would like to quote the Lyrics:

With lyrics that basic, it is safe to assume that Elmo is by no means an expert song writer, which is to be expected of someone with his mental capacity.

As far as Elmo communicating with the Sun, Moon, stars, and for sake of convenience from here forth all inanimate or otherwise incommunicable objects in general, this is merely an insight to his imagination, on a children's entertainment/education show. Remembering that Elmo, and the creator(s) target demographic is young children, it would be benefical to tap into their creative minds to make the education more enjoyable and exciting for them, to achieve optimal success. As far as Elmo being shown in likeness to a constellation is either mere imaginaton to add "flavour" to the segement and/or limited only to the world which encompasses "Sesame Street". To argue that it is showing Elmo's "Megalomania" is just slanderous, and a last ditch attempt to burden a character's reputable name, and to associate it with a psychological disorder, as anyone of a sound mind can clearly see this is not true. If we accuse Elmo of "Megalomania" for using his imagination, then we might as well admit every single child in the world to psychological evaluation immediately. As for accusing Elmo of being on LSD (Lysercic Acid Diethylamide), these claims are unfounded, there is no indisputable proof that Elmo has been under the influence, and being child like, i doubt Elmo would even know how to administer the substance. Not to mention it would be in terrible taste if the creator(s) of "Sesame Street" would allow anything remotely relating to drugs, as it could unbalance a child's innocence by exposing them to something they are not mature enough to comprehend.

In closing, it is clear that Elmo is not mentally unstable, but in fact a normal 3-4 year old child character, who's purpose in the show is to encourage kids to use their imagination, and to make learning more fun. There is no underlying mental instability of Elmo, nor is their any erratic behaviour exhibited by him that would cause one to raise alarms about his stability. This was an enjoyable debate, but I'm sure our observers will decide who the true winner is. But i will say, I would expect the balance to be tipped in favour of reason in terms of the result of the ultimate victor. It's Decision Time, Vote Con. Yes We Can Debate.org, yes we can, let your voices be heard!